Technical Field
The present invention relates to an aerodynamic lift module having a lift cell, or a plurality of lift cells in tandem within a circular disk duct that produces a resultant Lift vector force in a 360 degree field upon flowing air at velocity through the length of a duct. These lift cell modules could be set in a longitudinal series, one behind the other, along the length of a duct, to produce a working Lift Pod. This Lift Pod could be attached to a given form of an aircraft for flight.
Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,349 shows a means of controlling airflow about an airfoil with an alternate airfoil design for conventional airplanes and open wings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,119 discloses a means of aerial lift depending on the use of an air jet blown and channeled (through a nozzle and a vane) exclusively and almost tangentially over a limited segment of a rotating cylinder (a Magnus cylinder) thereby creating a useful depression and lift. The part of the cylinder's surface swept by such jet (sometime referred to as the “useful segment”) is delimited upstream by a nozzle “splitting” a sheet of air almost tangentially over the cylinder and downstream by a vane which will skim the surface of the cylinder and direct the jet away from the surface of the rotating cylinder. It is possible to utilize the energy required for pumping the aforementioned jet tangentially over the cylinder much more efficiently than is the case with a classical Magnus cylinder because, instead of the cylinder being immersed totally in the pumped air flux, the jet channeled by the nozzle and the vane does not generate any useless or contrary lift, or any sizable zone of turbulence. A large number of accessory devices are also proposed in order to make this principle applicable and useful. In particular, the aforementioned basic element (i.e., cylinder, nozzle and vane) are arranged in several modules and these modules are protected from the wind by a system of walls and louvers. The attitude of an aircraft equipped with such modules is controlled mainly by moving some vanes closer to or farther from the nozzles, with a consequent variation of the surface of the useful segments and thus the lift of these modules.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,925 discloses the use of winglets set along the outside of the fuselage of an airplane that reportedly produce added flight controls by stabilizing airstream flow about the aircraft fuselage.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,026,482 discloses the use of cylindrical rolls, interfering/deflecting airflow about an airfoil to control the airstream and improve the generation of lift. It is reportedly an improved airfoil design to be used in the manufacture of wings intended for external use such as in conventional airplanes.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,532,899 disclosed the use of cylindrical rolls, interfering/deflecting airflow about an airfoil to control the airstream and improve the generation of lift. It is reportedly an improved airfoil design to be used in the manufacture of wings intended for external use such as in conventional airplanes.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,680 discloses the use of a slat for deflecting airflow about an airfoil to control the airstream and improve the generation of lift. It is reportedly an improved airfoil design to be used in the manufacture of wings intended to external use such as in conventional airplanes.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,990,140 discloses the use of winglets placed on the outside of a conventional aircraft fuselage intended to improve flight stability by controlling the airstream about the aircraft.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,354 discloses the use of cylindrical rolls, interfering/deflecting airflow about an airfoil to control the airstream and improve the generation of lift. It is reportedly an improved airfoil design to be used in the manufacture of wings intended to external use such as in conventional airplanes.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,924,400 discloses the use of retractable winglets set in delta form attached outside of the fuselage of a conventional airplane design to improve airflow about the airplane for flight maneuvers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,094 discloses the use of winglets set in delta form attached outside of the fuselage of a conventional airplane design to improve airflow about the airplane for flight maneuvers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,800 discloses a tandem or multi-winged aircraft where a primary wing system is capable of shifting a neutral point of the craft relative to its center of gravity. A secondary wing system positioned ahead of the primary one is movable fore and aft relative to the latter and angled during its excursion to counteract the neutral point shift that would be brought about by deploying the primary wing system alone thereby maintaining the neutral point at approximately its former location in at least both the cruise mode as well as the high-lift mode preferred for landing and take-off.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,922 discloses the use of winglets set in delta form attached outside of the fuselage of a conventional airplane design to improve airflow about the airplane for flight maneuvers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,625 discloses the use of special gull curvature wings and tail to improve aircraft maneuverability and weight requirements.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,858,341 discloses a wing that houses multiple vanes (blades) that appear to be internal winglets set in a consecutive one-behind-the other fashion to reportedly improve gliding, aircraft maneuverability, and recovery from a stall.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,962 discloses an amphibious vehicle having a fuselage with a pair of support pods at a front end and a single support pod at the rear. Each pod has a fan therein and in accordance with another embodiment, the pods serve as floats. The vehicle has a top wing adjacent the rear and a bottom wing adjacent the front, each of which have elevator surfaces thereon. Port and starboard engines are positioned adjacent the rear of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,776 discloses a vehicular lift wing having a Coanda edge perimeter with a nozzle slot formation. Fluid ejection is directed tangentially from the full Coanda edge perimeter during translation through an ambient fluid medium. Omnidirectional control means supplies pressurized fluid to the nozzle slot formation at different azimuthal locations along the Coanda edge perimeter for selectively controlled generation of dynamic forces exerted on the wing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,273,829 discloses the mounting of lift engines on an aircraft in order to give it a short take-off and landing capability. Such lift engines can, for example, be mounted in pods carried on the aircraft wings. Since a lift engine is provided to give upthrust, it is conventional to mount these engines with their axes vertical or substantially so.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,347,497 discloses an aircraft power plant having a plurality of gas turbine lift jets mounted in a pod for movement between operative positions in which the engine axes are vertical and inoperative positions in which the engine axes are aligned and horizontal so that the frontal area of the pod is minimized for forward flight.
There is no disclosure in these references of controlling the airflow about an airfoil using a cellular box about the airfoil. The present invention provides a box that acts as a miniature wind tunnel putting into practice the best know aerodynamic theories to optimize airfoil performance. This box is set in vertical tandem, one over the other, and set in a circular disk forming an enclosure that allows for the lift force to be managed in a radial format giving this new invention a modular design that allows for added aerodynamics maneuvers to conventional aircraft or a new form of aircraft.
These and other aspects and attributes of the present invention will be discussed with reference to the following drawings and accompanying specifications: